AN ambitoius project is underway to fit a smoke alarm in every child's bedroom in two communities.

Hattersley Neighbourhood Partnership has teamed up with the fire service to undertake the mammoth task of installing a smoke alarm in children's bedrooms in Mottram and Hattersley - around 1,500 alarms.

Children's rooms are home to a variety of appliances, including TVs, stereos, computer game consoles and electric toys, and the fire service says it would take only two minutes for smoke to fill a child's room before leaking under the door and activating a landing smoke alarm.

Community fire safety officer Jonathan Knowles said: "At the moment the fire service is pushing for everybody to have a minimum of two smoke alarms so we decided to expand it. Young children in particular are interested in setting fires and as well as that, children's bedrooms can be just like a living room and anything electric could quite easily cause a fire."

Chris Thean from the neighbourhood partnership team has helped Jonathan in his bid for government funding and around 250 families have already registered for their free alarm. They will be installed by Ashton sixth form college pupils on the public services course.

To register for a free smoke alarm call into the partnership office on Kingston Arcades or call 368 2096.